TOURS

Private Forest Land Tour and Lunch

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

This tour brings landowners and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff to three locations in Taliaferro County to explore forest management and how it enhances habitat.

Our first stop is Crazy Pines Land Trust where Georgia Piedmont Pine Plantation managers will demonstrate the benefits of prescribed fire. Next we travel to the Macfie Family Farm and hear brothers Thomas, Ian, and Sam Macfie speak about the family’s storied history of the property which dates to the 1920s. We will also discuss natural pine management along bottomland and upland hardwood management at this site.

Finally, we will visit the Plains Logging Company to learn how timber harvests are conducted in the Southeast. The tour concludes with a catered lunch at A.H. Stephens Historic State Park where attendees will discuss the barriers of timber management, at-risk species conservation, and partner programs offered by the USFWS. Pack your boots for a walk in the woods.

(Included in conference registration fee).

Historic Greene County Tour and Lunch

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Step back in time for a historic tour of Greene County, which is steeped in Southern history and tradition with elegant antebellum homes and churches. The tour begins at Festival Hall for juice and coffee, followed by a tour of the courthouse with a brief history of Greensboro, Georgia which was founded in 1786 and remains the county seat and home of Lake Oconee.

Next, we’ll drive toward Penfield, Georgia, and hear the story of the prosperous South during the flourishing cotton era before the devastation of the boll weevil. View the old Mercer Chapel where slaves sat upstairs while their white families worshiped in the main chapel and stop by the cemetery to see the graves of unknown Confederate soldiers.

On our return to Greensboro, we will view homes from the Reconstruction period before heading to lunch at Yesterday Café.

Price: $100.00

Shoulderbone Plantation Tour and Lunch

Friday, June 29, 2018

Built in the classic antebellum style in 1850, Shoulderbone Plantation underwent extensive renovation in the 1980s to restore it to its original character. The plantation house was placed on the national Registry of Historic Places in 1984.

In addition to the plantation house, the property includes two other historical houses, a log cabin, and several original outbuildings on 2,325 acres. Shoulderbone, which is not open to the public, remains a working plantation for Angus cattle breeding and also hosts hunt groups.